This invention relates generally to the detection of hazardous material deposited in flat objects and, more particularly to the detection of biological hazardous material deposited in flat mail objects or the like and the isolation of such objects for decontamination or disposal.
The recent incidents of anthrax-laced letters being transported through the United States Postal Service (USPS) facilities to unsuspecting recipients has alarmed the nation and the world. Currently, the tainted letters are discovered after the recipient accepts delivery or by alert postal employees noticing white powder that could be anthrax on mail parcels sorting and distribution equipment, or themselves. There appear to be no current security devices or procedures that are available to intercept such letters at the earliest source of introduction into the USPS system, for example at the postal sorting facility.
Operating and maintaining high-speed mail handling machines is a major source of common variety dust in mail handling facilities. Experts believe that automatic mail processing systems may accidentally act as aerosolizing mechanisms. In the context of anthrax-bearing mail, mail processing devices which utilize pinch rollers or that involve high impact sorting or routing of processed mail may act to force spores from envelopes into the air. The “blow-down” of these machines in cleaning or maintenance operations also may cause anthrax spores to become aerosolized.
Currently, flat objects or letters are batch processed at a postal sorting facility for routing to a final destination. Mail tubs taken from mail collection boxes are emptied into a sorting bin containing objects from other mail collection boxes. The identity of the mail collection box where each object was deposited is lost when the mail tub is emptied into a sorting bin. Further, one single contaminated object can contaminate objects from several mail collection boxes. What is needed is a system that protects objects of mail, USPS employees employee workspaces and ultimately mail recipients from contamination while tracing the source of the contamination.